Santo Domingo.- Police in Montreal said massive raids conducted in and around the city on Thursday targeted a criminal organization active within the Dominican community in the US and Canada, reports ctvmontreal.ca.

“Police suspect that the gang has been active for the past 15 years and acted as a broker in the importation of cocaine and ecstasy into Canada, which was then re-distributed on the streets by the Italian mafia, street gangs, and Hells Angels,”

The news source said nearly 300 police officers conducted drug raids across the Montreal area, including the north and south shore of the island. “The Montreal organized crime division's anti-gang unit led the investigation dubbed Operation Acabar. The raids were aided by officers from the Sureté du Québec, RCMP (Mounted Police) and several local police forces.”

It adds that Some 200,000 ecstasy pills were seized, while several members of the gang could be extradited to the United States at the request of the law enforcement officials there.

Dominican connection

Canada’s Mounted Police and local authorities conducted joint arrests of alleged members of the Hells Angels in the resort towns of Cabarete and Sosua as recent as last year, on charges of at least 17 murders mostly of members of rival bike gangs in Montreal.

Late last year local authorities reportedly raided the clubhouse of the Dominican biker group Los Barracos in Santo Domingo, as part of the ongoing investigation into the Hells Angels attempt to set up operations in the Caribbean country.